Moral Relativism

Who would ever suspect that murderers would win any sort of popularity contest?

Some time ago, in one of my contrarian moods, I wrote a piece with the provocative title of "paedos are people too". This has now been noted and as a result I have recently been criticised for not disowning a mate of twenty years on realising he was convicted of rape, and for not going around beating the crap out of sex offenders in general. The point of that post was to highlight the truth that we are all more than the sum of our charge-sheet.

In my younger days, maybe I did. I know that I saw screws set some cons up to do their dirty work, pointing them towards a sex offender and turning a blind eye. Not unusually, the target was no such thing, only a poor sod who the screw hated.

As the years have passed and my appreciation of my own crime has evolved, the moral relativism between crimes has grown far more uncertain for me. I killed another human being. In what way is that better than raping someone? As a woman once suggested to me, what’s the difference between being stabbed with a knife or a penis?

As I perceive it, I'm not standing on solid enough ground to be pointing the finger at anyone. As a result, I take people as I find them. Some of my best mates committed stomach-churning crimes decades ago but today as they sit around and pass the time with me, they are decent enough blokes. If you met them in the street, you would doubtless find them to be equally pleasant. And as I've told any person who objects to the company I may keep, I talk to who I want to - you feel free not to.

Of course, I have to face the reality of people who have committed repulsive crimes. It is not possible to live with such people and continue to reduce them to stereotypes. I see people, not crimes. Those of you who have not knowingly met such a criminal can retain the ability to see only the crime, to choose to allow that to become a one-dimensional reality that is very easily despised.

This is also a matter of comprehension. I have written before about the incomprehensibility of finding kids to be sexually attractive; to most people, that just can't fit into their head, it is impossible to connect with. This may be why kiddie fiddlers are perceived to be the Other even by most prisoners.

And a note on hypocrisy...All too often I have seen sex offenders attacked. Almost always they are the weaker ones. I've seen big, muscular and capable rapists walk the landings with impunity. If you're going to hate nonces and attack them, I think it's a tiny bit feeble to just pick on the ones who won't fight back.

There was a criticism by an Anonymous to the effect that I should be attacking sex offenders right and left, who boasted that her brothers made tea for the IRA whilst in prison. Urm, in what moral universe is a rapist worse than a person who blows up civilians -including women and children?

There does appear to be a perpetual need to create structures, hierarchies, which conclude with some group being labelled the universal Other. Perhaps it is an innate and ahistorical human trait. But that doesn't make it any clearer in its conception and even less so in its comprehension.

I'11 condemn any person’s crime, quite cheerfully. But each of us is more than that and I will talk to who I damn well please.

Women staff

Even after all these years, my fellow prisoners manage to surprise me on occasion.

In a recent issue of our national paper, Inside Time, a con was deploring the presence of female staff in male prisons.

I like women staff, in the sense that I'd rather look at something pleasing to the eye than suffer a perpetual vista of hairy-arsed men.

This doesn't mean that I am immune from being prompted from groaning in frustration at the rare sight of a very sexy woman on the landings. But that is normal, it isn't as if I live in fear of my urges overwhelming me and leading to wickedness.

But this isn't to deny that female staff don't complicate issues on occasion. Whereas it was a strict norm that women staff should never be subjected to violence, no matter how justified, the presence of women on riot squads makes that judgement a more fluid one.

Complications aside, even though the presence of women staff has the potential to intensify frustration, I would never dream of complaining about their existence.

More, I worry about those who do complain. It makes me wonder if they live in fear of their urges, whether they wonder if their appreciation of women may take a deviant turn.

This was played out beautifully by an incident in which an utterly gorgeous probation officer used to swan through the lifer wing wearing a miniskirt and a low cut t-shirt. She looked like Michelle Pfeiffer at her best. Most of us were highly appreciative.

A small number actually made an official complaint. All were rapists. What a way to live, feeling threatened by one's own sexuality.

Ask and Ye Shall be Denied

If you are a very, very good prisoner and do all that is asked of you, some nicks allow you to buy a DVD player and DVD's from your paltry income.

My old mate, Trev, pops along to my cell to whinge. He has ordered three DVD's but the Security department have refused to let him have them. My perpetual outrage generator was just kicking into gear on his behalf at this wickedness when it occurred to me that I should ask more. "What were the films...?" The Entity. Straw Dogs. The Accused.

"Trev", I said, "these films - you don't see that they have a theme that the staff may find worrying?" Trev, a rapist, pondered for the briefest moment before deciding that these 3 films with the theme of rape, rape and gang rape respectively were in no way problematic.

I hate to say it, but there are moments when I'm glad that some people aren't yet released.